Renegade
by Allyson Kat
Summary: "What do you plan to do... once this is all over?" "Classified." Abby and her former Gallagher roomies are back in action and sworn to protect Cammie. Abby POV of OtGSY.
1. Chapter 1

"_What do you plan to do… after this is all over?" Joe asked me. I sighed and smiled seductively at him._

"_Classified," I teased. The way he was looking at me was too cute. He leaned closer._

"_Classified, hm?" _

"_Yep, classified," I repeated. Then he kissed me. Just like old times._

Just like old times. I fired my gun and leaped off the building, wincing as I had to use my injured arm.

"Renegade!" My codename rang in my ears. "Are you with us?"

"I'm here," I spoke into my comms unit, "but I'm a little-" the shadow leaned over the building and I tried my best to sink into the shadow beneath the windowsill, "-trapped!" I whispered. The attacker dove for me and off the edge of the building. "Sucker!" I yelled after him, but I wasn't quite in the clear yet. The second attacker leaped after the first like a lemming, but grabbed one of my heeled boots on his way down. I yelped and managed to land a good kick in his head on the way down, but that didn't help me much as I was still free-falling. "Hey, Indiana, now would be a good time to help!" I screamed into my comms unit, the ground approaching me much faster than I would have appreciated.

"On my way," Lia answered. Lia Thomas, my former roommate and forever best friend and partner in crime. She earned her nickname from her hero, Indiana Jones (who, personality-wise, she bore a great likeness to. I wonder sometimes if watching those movies too much had an influence on her current persona). Suddenly, the awnings emerged from the buildings. "Thanks, Li- Indiana!" I rolled onto the first, somersaulted onto the second, and landed on my feet in the cobblestone road. As soon as I landed, I went into pavement-artist mode, hiding in plain sight. I thought of my former brother-in-law and the skills my niece inherited from him. Cammie's last words to me rang in my head:

_Don't be a ghost this time. Go do what you have to do, but don't be a ghost, okay?_

Unfortunately, ghost was what I did best. The only person on this planet who could beat me at ghost was Ghost herself: Jana Garcia, granddaughter of the famous Agent Garbo and my second of three partners-in-crime.

"Ghost, Renegade and Indiana moving through the market. We've got a tail on one of the subjects. Can you do backup?" Jana's voice crackled in my ear.

"I've got your back, Renengade." She always did.

"Visual on subject number two," Katie Norman, Goldfish, added. The child of two navy seals, Katie had earned her stripes as Goldfish for sure. "He's at the pier, and appears to be getting ammo from an aid."

"Visual on primary subject," Lia returned with a little more emphasis, "Headed towards the pier, as well."

"Ghost, rendezvous at the pier," I spoke into my comms unit.

"Yes, Renegade." I slipped into the crowd, a complete and utter ghost among the people.

"Visual on Goldfish and the subjects." I spoke. "I'm coming from the south."

"They're getting back on their boat," Katie said.

"Damn pirates," Jonny spoke. None of my roommates really appreciated Jonathan Sorenson's company… that is, except for Katie, who had really grown on him (and, admittedly, though Kate would never admit it, vice versa). "Renegade, Ghost, are either of you in a position to intercept their boat?"

"I can try," I pulled a bobby pin out of my hair. I was lucky to find a jetski tied ever-so-carelessly in a square knot. I pulled it free of the rope and hacked the ignition, starting up the machine and rocketing off after the pirates' motorboat.

I know being a pirate sounds all fun and dashing, Captain Jack Sparrow-y and so on and so forth, but I promise you that modern-day pirates are truly nasty business. And not one yet has reminded me in the slightest of my favorite movie characters. I heard a yelp of pain over my comms.

"It's Renegade. Ghost, where are you?"

"I'm here, fine, Goldfish?" She replied.

"All's good here. Where's Indiana?" Silence.

"Indiana?" More silence. I twirled the jetski around, headed back for the docks.

"You took my skidoo!" Somebody on the docks was apparently waiting for me.

"I'm a government agent," I warned him, "I did what I needed to do. Thank you, by the way!" I called as I raced up the pier. Panic was building in my blood. "Indiana, can you hear me?" Nothing. "Ghost, Goldfish, last visual on Indiana!"

"Underneath the pier with the aid," Kate responded. I swung myself off the pier, hovering above the sand, pebbles, and seaweed. I switched off my comms and felt safe to whisper, "Lia?" I felt somebody behind me and whirled around to face a very nasty looking man. I switched my comms back on as I landed a perfect roundhouse kick to his face to a storm of, "Renegade? Renegade! Where are you, Renegade?"

"I'm under the pier! Shark, where are you?" Jonny wasn't nearly as deserving of a fish name as Kate, but right then it didn't matter. "Shark, I could use some help!"

"Coming!" Behind the bad guy, I saw a slim man drop down with catlike silence. I almost marveled at Jonny, but not quite.

In any case, marveling or not, Jonny happened to save the day by bashing the aid's head with a piece of driftwood. "Where's Lia?" He asked in person. I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but he easily sensed my fear. I found myself wishing he were Joe.

"_What happened? God, I feel like hell!" I moaned, waking up in a strange room. _

"_You went through surgery," Rachel stood over my bed, holding my hand. "I can't believe you took that bullet!"_

"_It's my job, Rach," my voice sounded like it hadn't been used for days, which, I guess, it probably hadn't. "How's Cam?" _

"_So worried about you," my niece's supposed worry shone through my big sister's eyes. "First thing she asked when she came-to." I smiled in the knowledge that _someone_ actually cared about me. Then I looked up and broke into a full-faced grin._

"_Why are you here?" I asked sarcastically. Joe looked more worried than even my sister. He took my hand and pursed his lips in worry. I remembered Istanbul, and thought about reminding him before he interrupted my train of thought with-_

"_You took a bullet," he told me (like I didn't know!)._

"_Like I was just telling Rachel," I grinned at him, "It's my job!" _

"Indiana! Indiana, are you there?" I almost yowled into my comms unit. I looked around, remembering everything I'd learned in my years of being a spy. I saw familiar footprints underneath the pier. A closer look at the prints revealed to Jonny and me that they were, in fact, Lia's prints. We followed them and watched them grow sloppier and uneven, dragged through the sand, until we found her passed out, her blood soaking into the sand around her head. "Shark and I found Indiana," I whispered through the comms unit. "Get back here. North side of the pier. She's going to need some help."


	2. Chapter 2

I had made quite the pen-pal of my niece. Though I never sent anything to her that wasn't fully encrypted and on evapopaper, she was my way to vent.

I was doing my honest to god best not to be a ghost to her anymore. The winter in Florida was nice, and I knew the kids would be out on spring break any day now. To admit it, I missed protecting Macey.

It sounded silly, but Gallagher was like my home. And Macey was a lot like me. And I liked seeing Cammie and Rachel. And I _really_ liked seeing Joe Solomon. I contemplated giving him a phonecall or sending him a postcard, but was too much of a coward to do so. Instead, I wrote in a postscript to Cammie,

"Send your Covert Operations teacher my regards!"

Of course, written phonetically in the Siberian dialect of Russian like the rest of the letter.

Cammie was logical. She told me that I should send him a letter, and that he got more and more sour every day without me. That last part made me smile. Maybe I should pay him a visit, for the girls' sake. It was still the first week of December, and I was enjoying my time in Florida, but I was far too spontaneous a person to resist once the idea had settled into my mind. I would pay a surprise visit to Roseville!

So I did what spontaneous people do best: I didn't spend a moment planning and caught the next flight to Virginia. There was a minor issue with the TSA and my pistol before I let them know I was part of the Secret Service (after which, there was absolutely no hassle. Even with a pistol under my belt).

Before long, I stood at the gates of the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women.

"Rachel," I called through the gates. They opened for me and I walked slowly up the driveway, admiring the lack of a code red inside the building. My sister rushed out to greet me.

"Abby!" We embraced. "What are you doing here?"

"Cam told me not to be a ghost," I shrugged, "This is me… not being a ghost."

"Winter break is three days away, then Cammie's headed to London with Bex," Rachel reminded me.

"Three days is enough time," I brushed away her worries. "So what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much," Rachel grinned, "But I heard you took down a couple pirates!"

"It wasn't just me," I said sheepishly, "I had Lia, Kate, and Jana with me." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Of _course_ you did, Trouble!" She used my school-old codename. My roommates and I had been Trouble, Chaos, Havoc, and Indiana. Lia had insisted on being Indiana even back then.

I'm sure she was remembering all the trouble my roomies and I caused her during her Gallagher days. Though we were in seventh grade when she was a senior, my friends and I had made her senior year a living nightmare. Not only could she barely stand the rule-breaking and the trouble I got into all over the place, but the pranks we pulled weren't ordinary girl pranks. They were Gallagher Girl pranks, which, to say the least, aren't nearly as nice or simple to fix. Nor do they typically feel very good.

"A few people on Sublevel Two have been missing you," She gave me a wink and opened the door to the school for me. I marveled at Gilly's sword for approximately forty-eight seconds before setting off at a jogging pace towards Sublevel Two. The mirror scanned my face and the eyes on the painting glowed green (just like I remembered from every time I've ever visited!). I went down to two, pricked my finger, and breathed in the familiar scent of _home._

Was it just me, or was that Joe Solomon's polo I smelled in the air, too?

I walked as quietly as possible down the spiral until I could hear a lecturing (if not very snappy) voice echoing. I leaned against the doorway and watched a film roll from the projector, dust dancing in the air, and waited for somebody to notice me.

"Abby!" Bex whispered to Cammie, who turned around and grinned broadly. Joe scowled at the whispering girls, but followed Bex and Cammie's gaze to me in the doorway. He surprisingly maintained his scowl as he looked me up and down. I frowned, then realized that it was his cover. He was as spy, too, after all!

Class ended and Cammie and Bex embraced me.

"Just wait until Liz and Macey hear you're here!" Bex promised great reactions from her roommates. The dim lights came back on. Tina and Eva approached, too, asking about my adventures. I offhandedly informed them that I had taken down a bunch of pirates (not of the Johnny Depp breed, and definitely not hot in the least) with a bunch of my Gallagher Girl friends (and one boy who really shouldn't have been there). They finally scampered from the classroom, promising to talk to me later. Joe kept his scowl.

"Hello, creepy face!" I teased. "Long time, no see, eh?"

"Long time, no communicate, more like," he glowered. "You couldn't have just said… something?" He looked mad. Uh-oh.

"Wait a second… you're actually mad at me?"

"I'm not going to lie to you," his voice was far too quiet, "I'm a little frustrated. I mean… after all that happened… after… and you didn't have the nerve to let me know that you were okay."

"You were worried?"

"Of course I was worried!" He brushed some of my stray hair out of my face.

"I thought about Istanbul," I whispered, not wanting to really look him in the eye anymore. His anger seemed to have lost its steam with the confession that it wasn't really anger so much as stress and he pulled me in for a hug. I smiled. "That's more the Joe I know." I thought back to what had happened, both before _and_ after the kiss. "I'm in Florida for winter break. Join me," I whispered.

"Can't," He didn't sound apologetic, but he did sound a little disappointed, "I'm doing things."

"What kind of things?" I asked mischievously. He leaned in close with a halfway, come-on-baby smile.

"_Classified_," he whispered tauntingly. At that, I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

Thanks for reading! And thanks so much for the nice reviews, guys ;) ILY!


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! So I'm not the hugest fan of this chapter, but read and review anyway! I hope you like it, but if you don't, the next chapter is a lot better, I promise :) Oh, and I have a question for this chapter: So, if you've seen the Mission: Impossible movies with Tom Cruise, does Ethan Hunt remind anybody else a little bit of Joe Solomon or is that just me? Thanks for reading! You're awesome! XOXO- Ally**

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><p>It was the third week of December and I was enjoying not being on call. Until I realized that it was the <em>third week of December<em>.

I dialed the number for the third time, hoping it wasn't disconnected. Hoping, praying… tapping my foot on the tiled floor.

"Hello?" That voice was so familiar! Thank God he picked up!

"Joe?" My voice cracked. "Joe, it's Abby."

"I know," I could hear the smile on the other end of the line, "Somebody's decided not to be a stranger!"

"This is important. How fast can you get to Florida?"

"I can't, really. I-"

"This is _important_." I hoped he would understand. "I need you. Here." He was quiet for a moment too long. "Joe?"

"How fast do you need me, honestly?" He sounded just the slightest bit disgruntled. "And what's going on?"

"I'll tell you when you get here," it didn't seem right to tell him over the phone.

"How fast do you need me?" He repeated.

"How fast can you get here?" I knew that he understood the magnitude of this situation, though I'm not sure he understood quite what was happening. At nine that night, a very jetlagged Joe Solomon showed up at my hotel. I let him in instantly.

"What's going on, Ab?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"I needed you here," I took a deep breath, unsure of how to let him know.

"For what? You have yet to tell me why I had to come to Florida for you," Any other circumstance, I would have teased him about being grumpy, but I didn't feel like it. I was so scared. Joe realized this and grabbed my hand. "Tell me, Abby."

"I'm late," I refused to make eye contact.

"For what?" His tone forced me to look in his eye. He sounded earnest, but there was no way he could be serious.

"What do you mean for what?" I grabbed my hands out of his. "What do you think, _for what_?" I snapped angrily. And suddenly, he grasped the truth of the situation.

"Oh, god, Abby!" He held on to me. Good spies (especially ones named Abigail Cameron) don't cry, but at that moment, I wasn't the spy Agent Cameron, I was the girl Abby. I honestly hadn't cried _really_ since I was nine, but at that moment, I was emotionally overwhelmed (not to mention exhausted), so I collapsed onto Joe's shoulder. I sobbed into Joe's shirt and he wrapped his arms around me slowly, like he wasn't quite sure what to do. I didn't like the comfort because it reminded me that I was vulnerable and that Joe was unsure about _everything _between us. "This means-" I choked out "-I can't- help- on missions- w-with-" I broke off and continued to cry. Joe patted my back soothingly until he asked,

"Wait, do you know… yet?"

"No," I sniffed, "That was what I wanted you here for."

A few minutes later, I sat with my legs swung over the edge of the bathtub. Joe's hands were on my shoulders.

"You have to look," he whispered. I knew he was right, but I didn't want to look at the results, in case they weren't what I wanted them to be. I held the hateful thing upside-down in my lap. "Three- two- one, flip!" I flipped it over and we both breathed a sigh of relief: negative.

"Thank God!" And once again, the girl in me was emotionally overwhelmed. I didn't sob like before, but I wiped away quiet tears with the back of my hand. The smile on my face must have been contagious.

"That's a relief," Joe grinned at me. Then he looked a little startled with himself, "But that doesn't mean that someday… I mean, when… Just kidding, it's a relief." He stumbled over his words. For the first time, the superspy was just a guy and the CIA legend was just a girl. I was uncomfortable in the situation, but that didn't mean I didn't like both of us letting our guards down at the same time for once. And there was another thing I noted about Joe at that moment: he was _awkward_ when he wasn't being a smooth master of disguise and male honeypot.

"I couldn't have a kid now," I shook my head. "But maybe someday. _Maybe_." It was highly unlikely, especially with Rachel's squirt to attend to.

"Exactly," Joe seemed at a loss for words. And very, very tired. It must have been a weird day for him. It was definitely a weird, stressful day for me.

"Get some sleep," I told him. He nodded and, with a yawn, started for the bed. Even after what had happened between us _last time_ I saw him, I was entirely unsure about whether or not I should crawl into bed beside him or sleep on the couch. He seemed to answer my question for me by scooting way over to one side of the bed, leaving me tons of space. It had been such a long day and I was going to be on assignment again very soon. I deserved to enjoy a good night's sleep in a bed. I was so relieved. I felt like nothing bad could ever happen again.

I remembered the days when Rachel and I shared everything with one another. I wondered where that went, until I remembered, _we turned into spies._ I drifted to sleep, dreaming of a shadow. Everywhere I turned, somebody in a red jacket was tailing me. Then, I realized that they were tailing Cammie, who was walking next to me, and not me at all. We were cornered. The woman's name was Deena. Don't ask me how I knew, but I did. I woke up in a cold sweat. Joe was smirking. _Smirking!_ And not laying down in the bed anymore, but sitting up cross-legged.

"What's so funny?" I asked with a smirk of my own.

"You were talking in your sleep. Who's Dean? Anybody I should be worried about?"

"Dee_na_," I corrected, "was a tail tracking Cammie. Was I really talking in my sleep? That could be a liability."

"Dreams are weird," Joe commented without answering, looking at my (probably greasy and gross) brown hair. He looked at me for a second longer before rolling over and falling back asleep. I got up and walked around for a while, the stress of the day sliding off my shoulders as I inhaled the smell of salt water.

When I woke up, it was light outside. Joe was gone. I growled at his disappearance without saying goodbye. "Spies," I whispered angrily to myself, dragging myself out of bed to stare out at the Florida sea. It was hard to think of winter somewhere else, or even of the drama of yesterday's worry. There was a knock at the door, and I opened it, expecting to find Joe. Instead, five armed and very unhappy masked agents burst into the room. A very large machine gun to be conspicuous was pointed at my head and I forced myself to stay calm. "What's your name? Who are you with?" He shouted.

"Agent Perry?" I asked. "It's me… Agent Cameron!" He lowered his gun.

"Oh," if his face weren't covered in a mask, I would have guessed he was embarrassed by his not recognizing me. "You might want to get out of here before somebody assumes you're with him."

"With who?"

"It's nothing, Abby," Luke Perry led me to the door of the room. "You might want to… Abby, your sister. Rachel."

"What about Rachel?" My heart picked up a notch.

"She's been temporarily… detained." Arrested. I turned and raced out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

"Cammie's in trouble," Grace's voice seemed nervous over the phone. "We know the Circle is after her, and we have suspicions about who might be behind it."

"Who?" If anything happened to Squirt…

"I'm sure you're familiar with Joseph Solomon," I wasn't sure whether it sounded pointed or not. I mentally blamed her accent for the ambiguity.

"_Very_ familiar with Joseph Solomon," I answered, to clear up any lack of knowledge on Grace Baxter's part.

"_Abby," he said my name like he cared. I was terrified so I clung to the only thing I could: the man standing right in front of me. His hands settled at my waist, pulling me closer._

"_What if something happens?" I asked._

"_Nothing will happen to Cammie-"_

"_I wasn't talking about Cammie," I told him. "What if Rachel finds out about this?" I kissed him. His grin was goofy._

"_We're spies," he informed me like I didn't know exactly who I was, "We're good at keeping secrets."_

"_Rachel and I are also sisters," I retorted, "In more than one sense. Sisters _aren't_ good at keeping secrets." He kissed me on the mouth, and I wondered if it was just to shut me up. I looked under my bed, just checking that Squirt wasn't there to witness the kiss. Luckily for me and Joe, Cammie wasn't hiding under my bed tonight. Otherwise there might have been trouble._

"They have your sister."

"I know. Where?" I didn't even wait for the answer. I knew they had Rachel, I just needed to hear it again. Before I hung up the phone, I was racing through the hotel lobby in my socks and pajamas, towards my ride to Langley. What they would want with Rachel, I didn't know, but I had to see her. Just had to _see _her.

"Hello, Ms. Cameron," a robotic voice said.

"I'm here to see Rachel." I responded coldly.

"I'm afraid that's not possible at this time," the voice responded, "She's currently being interrogated."

"I can wait." I told the machine, knowing full well that the person operating that machine heard the 'I refuse to wait' in my voice. I heard a sigh, and a human voice replaced the robot.

"Come in, Agent Cameron."

"Thank you," I snipped. As it turned out, Rachel wasn't in interrogation. She was in a 'detention pen' (jail cell). "Rach!"

"Abby!" She looked far beyond bewildered to see me. "How did you get here?"

"I wanted to know," I told her simply. "What's going on? With Joe, with you…?" My voice faded away. I was at a loss for words for the first time since the sixth grade (I've been counting).

"Joe's a traitor," Rachel whispered hoarsely. I wondered if she caught the same cold that was going around. "A double agent working for the Circle. He was lying all along."

"No," I refused to believe it.

"A week ago, the guy who," Rachel motioned towards my still-healing bullet wound, trailing off, "He started talking. He doesn't know much. Doesn't know why they want Cammie or… or really anything except who he was recruited with."

"And who may that have been?" I asked my sister, though I knew what answer was coming.

"Joseph Solomon. Abby, you have to believe me. For Cammie's sake."

"I'll try."

Next thing I knew, I was in London racing through the snow in boots that _totally_ weren't meant for racing through the snow. The high-heels sunk into the mud beneath the white snow, making awful squelching sounds that I wasn't a fan of at all.

"Oh, lord." I looked up at the drawbridge. I was just a little too late. Joe gripped Cammie's shoulders. His lips moved, and I cursed myself for being too far away to read them. All I knew was that he was telling her something. Something that was very important to him. And I knew I was too far away to know what he was saying, since all I could make out was 'pigeons' and I knew that couldn't have anything to do with what he was telling my niece.

My eyes moved to the right, and I saw Grace, Abe, and Bex standing behind Cammie, with about a dozen other operatives close at hand. Joe looked around desperately. My heart hitched a little as I could have sworn he locked eyes with me. I was way too far away to be able to tell, but a part of me hoped…

He jumped. The crazy bastard jumped and plummeted towards the dark, churning Thames.

"Joe!" I called. I watched him hit the water and then… nothing. Nothing at all happened after that. I wondered briefly if the impact from falling from that height would be enough to kill a man. I reconsidered. Most men, yes, but not a man like Joe Solomon.

I drove to the Baxters' as quickly as possible.

To find it empty.

Great.

Of course they would have gone to some official! The squirt would need to be brought in for debriefing.

"Baxter!" I whispered harshly over the phone. I was starting to catch a cold, probably from Rachel, a prospect that didn't make me too happy. One more thing to make me feel like crap.

"Abigail," Abe said on the other end.

"I need to talk to you," I told him. "In person."

"I trust you'll be able to track us down," Abe said. Despite all that was going on, I felt like I was up to the challenge. It would be unwise to say where their safehouse was over the phone, where any Joe Solomon could be listening.

"Shouldn't be a problem." I responded.

"See you when you catch up."

When I caught up happened to be five days later, where I met them at a safe house in a location I can't really disclose. It was almost midnight when I let myself in. Not surprisingly, Abe and Grace were up.

"Nice to see you, Abby," Grace smiled benignly at me. "Please, sit down." I did as she said. "Do you want some tea?"

"No thanks." I took off my big sweatshirt. "What have you two been up to?"

"Besides keeping the girls entertained," Grace said, "We've been discussing the Circle's possible motives."

"Cavan," I repeated. Abe changed the subject.

"Have you seen Rachel?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"I'm surprised that was possible," Grace said disbelievingly. She thought I was lying.

"Well, I wasn't in the mood to hear that it was _impossible_." I confessed.

"I see," Yeah, Grace clearly did not believe that I had seen my sister. I honestly hardly believed it myself, but it had been…_ easy_. I glanced up towards the room where Bex and Cammie would be sleeping.

"Grace, how is she?" Grace knew I wasn't talking about my sister anymore.

"Fine," she responded cryptically. "Should I go get her?" She added.

"No," I sighed, "Let the squirt have her sleep." I heard the shuffle of bare feet on hardwood, then quiet. "God knows I haven't had enough."

"How was Dubai?" Abe asked of my recent mission with the Girls and Jonny.

"Not the same without you," I admitted with a laugh. "Lia passed out from blood loss at one point, but we managed to arrest a few of the bad guys."

"Nice to know," Grace smiled. We sat in awkward silence for a little while (sixty seven seconds, to be exact), before Abe asked,

"Are you sure you don't want some tea?"

"No thanks, Abe," I hated sounding weak and illness-ridden, and I knew I did. But with what was happening to Rachel, and with the news about Joe, not to mention my favorite niece being in extreme danger, I felt I had an excuse to sound weak. Sad. Pitiful. "I haven't been sleeping all that well, to tell you the truth." I made a better excuse, because that's one of the things I do best.

"Neither have we," Grace admitted. The kettle whistled and I wondered briefly if I should just accept the offer for tea.

"How close was it really, Grace? Was she in any danger?" I was worried.

"Cammie is in constant danger," She avoided my question tactfully.

"You saw him, Abe?" I asked. I wanted him to say anything but a simple,

"Yes."

"How was he?" I swallowed down a lump of fear.

"Desperate."

"Do you believe it?" _Please say no!_ But I believed it. Fury bubbled up in my heart when I remembered what Rachel told me. Joe had been _friends_ with the man who had tried to kill me. We had been together and he'd never told me he loved me. Not that I ever returned the favor, but it wasn't comforting to hear,

"This is the way the Circle has worked for more than a hundred years…"

"But, Abe, we _knew_ him!" _I knew him!_ I wanted to cry. There was another awkward silence before Abe spoke again. Joe was the man that I had secretly been with under my sister's nose (after all, secret boyfriends _are_ the hottest, as Macey McHenry had once said). The man that, for approximately nineteen hours, I thought I was having a kid with. One of the only men that I had ever cared about _like that_.

"I believe Joe Solomon is the sort of man that no one will ever truly know." That wasn't what I had wanted to hear. More silence filled the air, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I heard a scraping noise.

"What do you think, Grace?"

"I don't know what to think, honestly, Abby," she looked at me with sad eyes. Eyes that said she pitied me. I wanted nothing less than pity. A look passed between us, and I knew the subject had changed. "And we can't tell Cammie until we're absolutely certain-"

"We can _never_ tell Cammie!" I interrupted.

"She's almost seventeen, Abby. And the more she knows, the safer she'll-"

"Cammie will never be safe!"

"We don't know that Cammie would do something foolish." The way she said it told me she wanted me to stop arguing with every point she made at least until she'd _made_ her point.

"Of course she would!" I insisted with a laugh. "_I would_. Trust me Grace, Abe. Cammie can _never _know-" There was a clattering sound and we stopped. Cammie lay sprawled on the ground.

"What the-"

I almost laughed. I walked over to my niece and leaned over her, marking my presence with a, "Hey, Squirt."


	5. Chapter 5

**I FOUND IT! For those of you who missed my last update, my computer crashed long ago and I only just got it back. I thought I'd lost the whole ten next chapters I've written. I'm making it up to y'all by posting three chapters tonight! **

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><p>"Cammie can never know <em>what<em>?" Cammie demanded a second time. Both she and Bex looked like determined agents. I couldn't help but think of Lia and myself in a similar situation, except as I recall we had been somewhere in the forests of Shangri-La instead of England.

"See?" I gestured at the two girls, proving my point to Grace and Abe. "This is exactly what I'm talking about!"

"It's true," Abe sighed, crossing his arms and looking from Cammie to Bex. "They are a liability."

"What can't Cammie know?" Bex ordered.

"Go to bed, Cammie," I insisted. I internally kicked myself for sounding _exactly_ like Rachel.

"No!" Cammie seemed affronted, looking just like I would.

"Cameron!" I yelled.

"So you know what _you_ would do if you were me, and you knew this big secret," she got to her feet and leaned closer to me, hands splayed on the table, "Now, imagine what you'd do if there was something you _didn't_ know." I sank down, utterly defeated. My arm was starting to feel sore again, I noticed.

"We caught one of them." I told her. "Election night… you were out, and I was…" I didn't know how to finish that sentence. "From the grab team that came for you, we caught one. We caught the one who did _this_," I held out my sore arm, "A week ago he decided to start talking."

"What's this have to do with Mr. Solomon?" Bex interrupted.

"Rebecca," Abe warned, but I didn't mind.

"The Circle works in cells- small, isolated groups. Two Circle operatives could be sitting right beside each other and not know it. So the man in custody has some knowledge of cell operations, but he doesn't know much. He doesn't even know why they want you, Cammie," I looked into my niece's eyes. "He only knows the people he's worked directly with and…" I shook my head to clear the emotions. "And he knows the people he was recruited with. When he was at Blackthorne." I dropped my eyes from her shocked face.

"No," Cammie looked hurt and angry, "That's just what MI6 thinks, for some reason, but they're wrong. There's been some kind of mistake." As much as I wanted to side with Cam, I knew she was wrong. I'd known Joe was a traitor since the moment I walked into the CIA headquarters to see my sister.

"Joe's a double agent, Cam. He was recruited by the Circle a really long time ago." It broke my heart to say it almost as much as it broke my heart to see Cammie so furious at me. But not quite.

"How can you say that?" She snapped. "He's your friend!" _You have no idea, Squirt._

"He was also friends with the man who did this!" I held out my arm, raising my eyebrows as if that made the point more real. I wanted to yell and throw things because I didn't want to believe it, but telling Cammie, I had to. I knew I was right, but I didn't want to be. "We have to believe it, Cammie. _You_ of all people _need_ to believe it!"

"But… he was CIA…" she was losing steam in this argument. "He was our _teacher_. He couldn't have been working for the Circle!"

Grace took over for me with, "Think about it, girls. You know having operatives deep inside the Agency would be a high priority for the Circle. And an operative _at_ the Gallagher Academy- an operative with so much access to Cammie…"

"You're wrong." Bex informed us boldly. I wished.

"It's an old and effective practice. Recruit operatives who are young, encourage them to spend their breaks training with the Circle, working with the Circle. And then send them back to school. But make no mistake, girls. We know what Joe Solomon did over his summer vacation."

"What if he's changed? People change. Maybe he's not working with them anymore." It was a feeble hope for the girls to cling to.

"It's not the Boy Scouts," I snorted, "It's not that easy just to walk away." The girls were quiet, and I sighed sadly. Cammie looked up at me.

"Why did you come here tonight?" She still looked hurt, but some of the internal steel the two of us shared had returned to her eyes.

"I was worried about you, Squirt. I was-"

"Where's _my mom?_" I winced. The way the conversation was going, I knew this would come.

"She's fine, Squirt. She couldn't come herself, so I came. She's fine." I reassured myself just as much as Cam.

"_Why_ couldn't she come?" God, my niece had inherited a few traits of mine through Rachel that were, needless to say, difficult to deal with. "What's so important that-"

"Alright then!" I thanked god for Abe in that moment. "It's best you two get some sleep. Big day tomorrow. We'll have to get up early to get you back to school." I nodded. The girls nodded, too. As they wandered up the stairs, Bex turned to me.

"Abby? How old… When he joined them… how old was he?" I tried on a smile for size. It felt so fake, I thought I might crack.

"Sixteen."


	6. Chapter 6

Abe raced through the forest on Highway 10. The girls chattered on and off along the journey. I hadn't realized that I had missed the States in the short time that I had been gone. Finally I turned and asked the girls,

"Have you covered vehicular surveillance yet?" Bex shook her head.

"Really?" Grace sounded surprised. "I thought you would have covered that in…" CoveOps. She didn't say it. "Oh well. I guess there's no time like the present." She smiled, taking everyone's minds off of Joe Solomon. "Tell me, Cammie, what do you see?"

"Two cars ahead of us."

"Lead cars, yes. Bex?"

"One tail vehicle."

"Right." There was a pause. I stared out the window at the entry gates, where about seventeen limos and BMW convertibles were waiting for entry through the school gates.

"I've never seen the line so long. Guards must still be on vacation time," Bex offered to lighten the mood.

"What's the second rule of countersurveillance?" Grace asked, refusing to give the girls a break.

"Resist routine and expectations," Bex and Cammie replied in unison.

"_Exactly_," Grace half-smiled, looking and sounding just like her daughter. The girls looked scared as Abe kept driving, hurtling through the woods at breakneck speed. He sped up the car as we swerved onto a narrower lane, rocketing past the gates to the school.

"Shortcut," I told the girls, who were exchanging confused glances.

"To where?" they panicked.

"Now?" Abe asked.

"This'll do," I said, trying to sound calm though, honestly, his driving was more than a little scary. He pushed a button and floored it. We flew through the air, over a chain-link fence, and landed in the lake. We drove through the water.

"WARNING! RESTRICTED AREA! AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY!" A robotic voice screamed through the car's radio.

"Mom," Bex started to say something, but didn't.

"ACQUIRING RETINAL IMAGES NOW!" An orange light made the car look eerie. "PRESENT VOCAL RECOGNITION, PLEASE!"

"Abigail Cameron, CIA." I stated calmly. I zoned out while everybody else introduced themselves to the robot. We were in the caves, a place I don't think I've _ever_ visited without Jana. We emptied out of the black car.

"There are caves under the lake?" Cammie asked. I had to look away to hide my reminiscent smirk. Bex's parents hugged her while Cammie examined the walls of the cave.

"Cammie, stop for a second," I grabbed her shoulders before she could go on, "Before you go any farther, I need you to promise me something."

"Okay," she said.

"I need you to be careful this semester." Cammie's eyes moved across my face, like she was considering it. "Cam, do you hear me?"

"Yes… I know."

"Do not take unnecessary chances." I felt a little hypocritical, but I didn't let on.

"I know."

"And Squirt… you need to be strong." She looked like she was debating how to respond.

"You aren't coming, are you?" She asked unhappily. I gave her a sad smile, looking up from Cam to the Baxter family.

"This is as far as I go."

"But I thought maybe you'd… We won't have a CoveOps teacher." I sighed.

"Sure you will, Squirt, sure you will." With that, I couldn't resist hugging the two girls. "Have fun this semester, Squirt! You, too, Bex!" They waved, their fast footsteps echoing in the cavern. I sat in the cave for a while, memories of my Gallagher days washing over me. The Baxters left, taking the car with them.

"Oh, Jana," I spoke to myself like a crazy woman, the last time I was in this cavern flooding back to me.

_"I swear to god, Abby, it's here!" Jana insisted, giving a desperate tug at the filing cabinets. "It was so cool! It's a cave!"_

_"Remind me again how you found this?" Lia asked from where she stood guard at the doorway. "Shoot, Ab, your sister is coming!"_

_"Rachel?" I shot up and to the door, peeping out through the shutters on the window. "She won't see us. I'm not worried." I shrugged. Lia gave me an 'if-you-don't-care' look. Kate sat on top of one of the filing cabinets._

_"Oh, girls," she cooed. "I think I found it." _

_"How?" I raced over to her._

_"See, this drawer has a latch on the handle," I nodded, looking at it, "but it slides open without necessarily using the latch."_

_"So press the button!" I insisted. "Why are you waiting around?"_

_"Will Rachel get mad at you?" Lia asked. I snorted._

_"I don't care that much if she gets mad at me," I told my roommate honestly, "She's always mad at me anyway."_

_"Guys!" Lia's voice dropped to a whisper. "Fibs is coming!"_

_"Uh-oh." Kate pressed the latch and jolted the handle back, it becoming a lever that pulled the filing cabinet away from the wall. Without even waiting to check out what lay within, the four of us jumped into the cavernous space and slammed the filing cabinet-slash-door closed behind us._

_"Told you guys so!" Jana yelled._

_"Shh!" Lia, Kate, and I shushed her simultaneously. "Fibs is on the other side of that door!" Kate mouthed._

_"Sorry," Jana blushed. _


	7. Chapter 7

"Hello, Miss Garcia," Jana looked up from her caramel macchiato at a woman with bright red curls, blue eyes, and a birthmark above her left eyebrow.

"Excuse me, but-?"

"It's me!" I grinned. She smiled back.

"Good disguise,-" She appraised me.

"Shh!" I looked paranoid-ly around Starbucks.

"-Jenny!" She finished with a wink.

"Speaking of disguises," I started, "I like your new hair." I nodded at Jana's new blonde highlights in her dark hair.

"Thanks!" She twirled a blonde-and-brown tendril around her finger. Her normally gold-flecked brown eyes were covered with darker brown contacts, making her eyes look black as night. "Want some?" She scooted her drink across the table. I took a sip.

"I don't like caramel," I concluded, setting it back on her side of the table.

"How was the squirt?" My friend inquired about my niece. I ran my hand through my red wig.

"She was…" I thought it over for a moment, "Obstinate."

"Like aunt, like niece," Jana said without missing a beat, sipping her coffee and turning a page of her newspaper. "How're Chaos and Indiana?" I asked. Jana's dark eyes momentarily darted up and a smile flickered across her lips. She was thinking about our school days.

"Kate went with Jonny on assignment in Chile," Jana responded, "Lia is back in Wellesley for a couple weeks." Jana took a deep breath before reporting, "Her brother died."

"Andy?" I asked. Jana nodded.

"He was in South China and he got gunned down. He wanted to be buried in his hometown, and Lia went back for the funeral."

"Wow," I remembered Lia complaining about her brother even back in seventh and eighth grade, but I also knew that she loved her brother more than any person on the planet. "Andy Thomas is gone."

"He was a good spy," Jana sighed, folding her newspaper and sipping her coffee again, "And a really good man."

"Poor Lee." I shook my head. "I should've been there."

"You didn't know," Jana said, "Neither did I, to be honest, or I would have been there."

"I wonder why she didn't tell me until after the funeral."

"I don't think she wanted us to worry."

"Yeah, well," I shrugged, "whether or not I'm at the funeral, I'm still worried about her."

"So, Brad Paisley is having a concert tonight in Sacramento." Jana informed me, quickly changing the subject as a black-bearded man walked past with measured steps. "Katie is flying to California for one night. Brad Paisley is Lia's favorite…" Jana let me figure it out for myself. "How long has it been?"

"The funeral was four days ago." I said. "They got the news that he had died about two weeks ago. Since the four of us last snuck into a concert? It's probably been about four years."

"I assume the word 'sneak' means you don't plan on actually purchasing tickets."

"We're going to have to tear Lia away from Wellesley."

"Not hard," Jana admitted. "She hates how stifling that town is." Jana finished her coffee and left her newspaper on the table. I ditched the disguise in the nearest public restroom and the two of us prepared for a plane ride.

We landed in Boston and I couldn't help but remember the last time I was here, and the 'accident' that had occurred on the Mass Pike when Lia had gotten fed up with the tollbooths. But that's a story for another time.

"Lia!" I called down the street. I knew my friend's walk more than anybody on earth. She had her hand on the shoulder of a young girl. Lia and the girl turned around.

"Abby?" I nodded. "Hey. This is my personal Squirt," she motioned towards the girl, "Peanut. Andrew's daughter."

"I'm Lia's friend," I introduced myself. Looking at the girl, her face so much like her dad's, I sensed I was looking at one of next year's Gallagher girls.

"I'm Viv," the girl instantly reminded me of a young Lia. "Hey, Aunt Lia, I'll catch up. I just have to go do something really fast." _Ambiguous. Good._ The girl slipped out from under her aunt's protective arm, walking calmly away.

"That's a Gallagher Girl if I've ever seen one," Jana said. Lia smiled slyly.

"Not to mention," I added, "A second Lia Thomas."

"She's ten," Lia changed the subject, "And already a great pavement artist. Like her aunt." Lia announced proudly.

"Poor kid," I couldn't help but think of an eleven-year-old Cammie at her dad's funeral. I hadn't been there. Well, not _really_. Neither Cammie or Rachel ever _saw_ me there, so to them, I wasn't. "Do you know the details?" Lia looked sad.

"I do. It sucks," Lia sulked, "And I can't really tell the peanut, because she doesn't know that her dad was-" Lia stopped, turning around to face the phantom-like ten-year-old. One moment she wasn't there, the next she was.

"Can't tell me that my dad _was?_" The ten year old stood like a rock, arms crossed and eyebrows knit. Lia smiled guiltily at her young niece.

"Yeah," Jana leaned over to me, "She's a Gallagher Girl alright."

"What have you got in your pocket?" Lia looked like a mom all of a sudden.

"Not important," the kid replied.

"Vivian Grace!" Lia held up a ring, bewildered.

"How did you-?" Viv started, turning her pockets inside out in surprise.

"No, how did _you_?" Lia slipped the ring back onto her own finger.

"Not _just_ a Gallagher Girl," I added to Jana, "A Gallagher _prodigy_."

"Or a dirty little thief," Lia added, "unless the peanut can learn to keep her hands to herself."

"Don't call me peanut," Viv demanded quietly. "You're not my mom."

"Yes, that's right," Lia said with rolled eyes. I couldn't help but feel like I was invading the conversation. "I'm your aunt. _And_ as far as I remember, nobody but me has ever reserved the right to call you peanut. Including your mom."

"So tell me then," Viv asked, voice shaking, "Where _is_ my mom? And why was she not at her own husband's funeral, hm? I'm not stupid enough to not notice!"

"Viv, nobody said you were-"

"And what can't you tell me about my dad?" Viv paused, wiping tears of frustration (not sadness) from her eyes. "Aunt Lia, he got _shot_. He's my _dad_."

"Well," I redirected the conversation, "I came with something to cheer you up." The wind was bitterly cold and my jacket not nearly thick enough. I pulled it closer around my ribcage. "Your favorite country singer Brad Paisley is having a show tonight in Sacramento. I have three plane tickets to L.A., though I don't think it would be hard to get a fourth ticket," I glanced at Viv with a wink, "If your niece feels like coming."

Viv gave me a look that said she was both intrigued and offended by me.

"It would get your mind off the tragedy," I added. Viv and Lia shared a glance.

"Only," Viv stood her ground, "if you agree to tell me about my parents."

"Alright, peanut," Lia sighed. Jana looked at Lia like she was crazy. "She has to find out eventually! She'll be at Gallagher next year anyway." Lia looked back at her niece. "I'll tell you on the plane ride." Viv smiled for what must have been the first time since she got the news.

"Good." She walked away down the street, a pink ring flashing on her hand. Lia gaped.

"Little thief," she muttered ominously.


	8. Chapter 8

L.A. was hot and humid when we landed. Viv wanted to see Hollywood and Venice Beach. We knew that if we wanted to make it to Sacramento, we couldn't afford detours. Lia was forced to purchase a tank top for her niece, as Viv started dramatically swooning with supposed heat stroke. We met up with Kate somewhere along the road. Kate and I sat in the back of the car with Vivian. She wasn't too eager to talk at first, but when I brought up that my niece went to the Gallagher Academy, she suddenly became interested.

"The Gallagher Academy? That's where I'm going next year!" Viv smiled. "It's cause my mom thinks I'm a trouble-maker. She's shipping me off to boarding school because she wants to get rid of me."

"That's not quite how it is, Viv," Lia winked. "It's a place that will turn your trouble-making skills into a good thing."

"But it _is_ cause she thinks I cause problems," Viv didn't seem at all disgruntled by that fact.

"It's cause she thinks you'd make a good spy," I tell her. Lia gives me a warning glance in the rearview mirror. "What? That's why."

"Her parents didn't want her to know just yet," Lia tells me and immediately I feel guilty.

"I can keep a secret," Viv's eyes shine. "I can act surprised when they tell me."

"I know you can," Lia says, "It's a morality thing."

"Like I have morals," I roll my eyes at Lia, who glares. "Kidding!"

"A school for spies… you're serious?" Viv looks at each of us. "You all went there, didn't you?"

"We were all roommates, peanut," Lia tells her niece. "We kind of… got in trouble. A lot."

"I work for the CIA nowadays." I answered her question. "So, yeah. Dead serious."

"So… my mom is a spy," Viv stated. It wasn't a question. "She went there as a kid. She's a spy."

"Your mom works for the FBI, not the CIA."

"Wow," Viv shook her head, taking all this in. "Was Dad a spy, too?"

"Your father was one of the best spies I've ever had the honor of meeting, Vivian," Jana told the girl seriously. "He really was."

"But he still got shot," Viv sank back into her seat. She was a silent crier, unlike me. She didn't make a sound, but she wiped tears from her eyes.

"Cheer up, squirt," I ruffled her hair, "We're about to have some fun." We reached the city limits of Sacramento in silence. "We're cutting it close, guys," I inform them.

"I don't really like country music," Viv admitted sheepishly.

"Dude," Kate laughed, "Neither do I. The music is not the fun of concert-going."

"Oh?" Viv sat quietly, unsure what to say next. I thought of Lia again.

"Did your dad ever tell you," Kate asked, "how much you reminded him of his sister?"

"Maybe once or twice," Viv shrugged. We parked the car two blocks away from the concert stadium, and walked towards the stadium, but turned away from the front entrance, walking towards the stage door instead.

"What are we doing?" Viv asked, trotting to keep up with us four spies.

"See, Viv," Lia tried to explain, "We don't actually have tickets."

"We're crashing the concert?"

"Yes."

"Cool!" Her eyes lit up.

"There's an emergency fire exit somewhere around here," I told the girls, "If we can disable the alarm-"

"Already on it," my smartest friend said, pulling a screwdriver from her purse. Lia, Jana, and I raced to keep up with Kate as she found the fire exit I had been talking about. Viv scrambled after us, a fast runner for a girl of her age and height.

"We have fifty-five seconds to get in and get the door shut," Kate told us, holding the door wide open for everyone. She closed it as fast as possible without slamming it after us.

"What are you doing in here?" A voice sounded.

"Stage crew?" I offered meekly. Before he could question our motives, Jana had knocked him out and was pulling _actual_ stage crew uniforms from her purse. She pulled out a fake backstage pass and clipped it to Viv's shirt. Vivian marveled at it as we quickly changed. My nametag said 'Sheila' and I adopted the persona of Sheila the Stagehand in an instant.

"Come on," I looked at Viv's name tag, "_Anna_." Viv examined her nametag.

The five of us (now posing as Sheila, Lucille, Rosa, and MaryJo the stagehands and Anna the eleven-year-old superfan) walked easily, unworried, down the hallway.

We were among the crowd of general concertgoers in no time. 'Anna' stopped to marvel at every t-shirt stand, falling into her character nicely.

"Lia Thomas?" A voice asked. I froze. Not good! "And is that… Wow! Abby Cameron!" An old classmate, Angela Turner chased us down through the crowd, two young girls in tow. "It's been a while since I've seen either of you!"

"Hey, Angie!" I smiled.

"Lia, I didn't know you had a daughter!" Angie exclaimed, seeing the clear-cut family resemblance between Lia and Viv.

"I don't," Lia put her hand on her niece's shoulder. "This peanut is my niece."

"Oh," Angie blushed, "Well, these are my two daughters, Shyloh and Polly." The two girls waved. "Gallagher girls next year."

"Good for you, girls!" I smiled.

"Me, too," Viv said. "I'm Vivian." The girls started chatting and I started wandering away, switching on my comms unit. Who said spies can't have fun with their occupation? My thoughts drifted as "Old Alabama" played in the arena.

"Indiana," I called my friend through the comms unit, "I'm in the arena, stage left."

"Renegade?" Lia's voice drifted back. "We're all together, including Cowgirl. Where are the kids?"

"They aren't with you?"

"No," silence. "We have to find them." My eyes scanned the dark concert for Angie's daughters and Viv.

I raced up the stairs and to the nosebleed section (which, coincidentally, gave me a nosebleed). As I crushed a tissue to my nose, I saw a kid's sneaker disappear around a corner. _Polly_, I remembered the outfit of one of Angela's twins. However, as I turned the corner, the girl had disappeared. The door to roof access clicked. Nobody seemed to notice except Sheila the Stagehand, and Sheila the Stagehand was perfectly authorized to go up to the roof. I hoped.

I pushed through the roof access door and tentatively climbed the ladder. What would the girls want on the roof? I thought about it for a second before concluding that, had Lia, Jana, Kate, and I been in their situation, we'd have done the same thing.

But as I pushed through the trapdoor to the roof, I noticed that something was different. I couldn't hear any telltale giggles, so either the girls were really good at being quiet or…

They weren't here. I heard something fall to the tar-coated roof behind me.

A pair of children's shoes. Polly Anderton's shoes, to be exact. My eyes traced their path back up to the arm of the shoe-dropper. Up to the face. I frowned and said exactly what I was thinking.

First thought: "Shoes? _Really_, Joe? Shoes?"

Next thought: "Wait- what are you doing here?"


	9. Chapter 9

"I needed to talk to you," He mumbled at his feet. I'd never seen Joe Solomon like that. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, hit him, or raise the alarm. So, instead I asked:

"How did you manage to nab Polly Anderton's shoes?"

"The girls have natural talent," he informed me, "but they're highly untrained."

"Viv is ten, the Andertons are almost twelve," I told him, "Of course they're untrained."

"I wasn't critiquing," he said, but I knew he was.

"Why did you want to talk to me?" I made myself sound as cold as possible.

"I'm not working for the Circle," he told me, putting his hands on my shoulders. I shrugged him off. "I promise, Abby. I'm trying to help Cammie. I'm on the same side as you!" I hated that my first reaction to seeing him again was tears, so I turned away from him and wiped my eyes with the back of my fist.

"You're putting me in danger by talking to me," I told him. "You've put my niece in danger. My sister is in custody because of you." My anger was growing.

"Ab, I'm not a double agent!"

"Save it!" I demanded. "I'm not in the mood. Now if you could hand little Polly's shoes to me…" He picked them up off the rooftop and tossed them to me. "And leave, Joe." I was quiet for a second. "Joe Solomon, I thought I could trust you. I thought you loved me. Turns out, I can't really trust anybody." I hadn't realized I was on comms.

"We're coming, Renegade," Jana's voice rang in my ears.

"No, Ghost, don't-" There was the sound of footsteps pounding up the ladder.

"We called in backup already. They'll be here shortly." The air suddenly felt chillier on top of that California rooftop.

"They called in backups," I whispered to Joe. "You don't have a chance."

"I didn't have a chance to begin with," He laughed humorlessly. Jana and Lia burst through the door behind me, guns out. Joe held his hands up and allowed himself to be taken without even a halfhearted attempt to get away. I don't know why, but something about that made me very sad.

"We found the girls," Lia said, "They're with Angie. I think Peanut needs to go home. Now." Lia was quiet. "Her mom just called. Tanya wants her daughter back in Massachusetts before ten, and Tanya has never really appreciated me. Jonny encountered some trouble back in Chile, so Kate is about to head out. Jana just got called in to investigate a possible threat in Utah."

"And you?" I asked Lia quietly.

"I don't know," Lia admitted. "I don't want to go back to Wellesley, though."

"Well, Lee," I sighed, "I think I'll-" Viv and the Anderton twins burst through the door to the roof.

"Did something cool just happen?" Shyloh looked around at us.

"Almost," I thought of the way Joe just gave himself up. It was so un-Joe-like. Would he have done that if he was guilty of something? Polly's eyes lit up as she looked at her shoes.

"I thought I lost those!" I tossed them back to her and she showed off, catching them and doing a little midair backwards cartwheel. Shyloh just rolled her eyes. Polly sat on the ground to put her shoes back on.

"Vivian," Viv looked up at her aunt, "We should get going."

It was my fault Joe got taken.

If I had only turned off my comms…

I couldn't allow myself to think of the 'what ifs'.

Plus, he was a double agent. He was putting my family in danger. So I should be happy that they caught him.

Right?

"I think I'll go with Kate," I told Lia. "She and Jonny might need some help."

"They're tracking down an alleged Circle leader, Abby," Lia told me. I froze.

"All the more reason to go with them," I said angrily.

"The Circle?" Viv persisted. "That sounds like a conspiracy! Sweet! What's the Circle, Aunt Lia?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, Vivian Grace," Lia said coolly.

"I don't like it," Viv said quietly, "when you don't call me peanut."

"I thought you were reprimanding me for it just earlier today?" Lia snapped.

"Well," Viv seemed to think it over, "I prefer that to 'Vivian Grace'," she admitted honestly. "When you call me that, it makes me think something's wrong." I looked at Lia's niece, so much like my friend. Lia smiled slightly.

"I think you've had enough adventure for one day, miss Peanut," Lia put her arm over her niece's shoulder. She turned to the Andertons. "Does your mom know where you went?" Polly and Shyloh shared a glance and a shrug.

"Promise to write me!" Viv insisted of the two. "We can be roommates once we get to Gallagher, like Aunt Lia and Agent Cameron and Agent Garcia!" Polly and Shyloh nodded eagerly. I smirked at being called Agent Cameron by a ten-year-old. Angela Turner appeared on the roof.

"I thought I'd find you two up here," she looked at Shyloh and Polly. "They like being on rooftops." She told me.

"I liked being underground when I was their age," Lia smirked at me, "But maybe that's just me." Angie smiled.

"I remember," she answered.

"So Kate…?" I asked Lia.

"Knew you'd want to come along, and is waiting to hear otherwise from the rental car. And, love," Lia smiled, "you might want to learn to turn off your comms unit." I didn't smile back. "Just a suggestion."

"Well," I shrugged, "Better safe than sorry."

"'I was in love with you, you traitor!'" Lia loosely recounted my side of the conversation with Joe. I felt myself blush deep red.

"I never said _I_ was in love with _him_," I countered, "I said that I_ thought_ _he_ was in love with _me_. Difference."

"Not a big one," Lia gave me a hug. "Kate is waiting for you." I didn't feel like taking the stairs, so I rappelled off the side of the building, where I heard Viv whisper,

"Wow! She's awesome!" I normally would grin and think of some witty response, but my tennies hit the ground before I could. I rushed for Kate in our little black rental car.


	10. Chapter 10

We got off the plane in Santiago early in the morning. I hadn't slept at all, and my makeup from the previous day was smudged all over my face. Jonny picked us up at the airport.

Sleep? Yeah, right. What a novel idea.

"We have a suspected Circle leader," Jonny said and my mind involuntarily flashed to Joe being led away, "and we've been tracking him through the jungle for a while. We know he's been in the city for a couple days, but we've got no idea where." I rubbed my temples.

"Where would you go in Santiago," my mind was already getting ahead of me, "if you were hiding from the CIA?" I thought it over. "Or if you were recruiting!" _Sixteen. Joe Solomon was sixteen when he got recruited._

"Does the Chilean government have places like Gallagher or Blackthorne?" Jonny asked, but his eyes were all on Katie.

"Doubtful." I responded. "Well, not doubtful," I reconsidered, "but doubtful we'd be able to find out anything about it, if it does exist."

"We're running on luck here," Kate shook her head. Katharine Norman looked almost distressed, if Kate ever got distressed. If there was one thing I knew Katie hated, it was having things out of her control. Having chance or fate or whatever you call it take the reins was not her idea of a good time.

So we landed at the hotel, but Jonny said he wanted to go somewhere with Kate. So like any good sister/bestie/spy, I decided to follow the two of them. I wondered if they honestly didn't notice, or if they just didn't care. Jonny took Kate's hand as they walked through the city, and I tailed them all the way to a beautiful view on the mountainside.

I blended with the almost-nonexistant crowd better than I thought I would. Sitting on a bench, I watched the back of their heads.

Then Jonathan got down on one knee.

I tried to keep my jaw from dropping as Jonny proposed to one of my best friends in the world. I got up the bench and started walking back to the hotel (it was a long walk for heels! Plus, I wanted to be there when they got back or it would be suspicious.), listening to Kate's excited squeals in the distance.

By the time Kate walked in the door, I was pleasantly situated in the hotel windowsill with a People magazine in my lap, wiggling my freshly-painted pink toenails.

"What are you reading?" She strategically grabbed the magazine in a way that showed off the huge diamond on her hand.

"Kate!" I acted surprised. "What is that?" She squealed and the two of us bounced through the room, for once getting to just act like girls.

"We were at this beautiful vista, where we could see the whole city, as I'm sure you know," I winced. So had she seen me? "And he just got down on one knee… I was so surprised! And it was beautiful! I've been waiting for this for the last four years!"

"You've known Jonny that long?" I was actually halfway surprised.

_Rachel walked into my dorm._

_"Nice to see you, sis," I didn't even look up from my Seventeen. Kate sat up in her bed across from mine._

_"I think Rach has something she wants to show you, Abby," Kate looked shocked. Before I could look up all the way, I noticed the glint. My jaw dropped. I hardly knew what to say. Rachel nodded._

_"You… so… Matt…" I fumbled for words. Rachel's smile was infectious. _

_"That's so great, Rachel!" Kate exclaimed. "What was it like?"_

_"It was…" Rachel almost laughed out loud, "Well, very career-appropriate."_

_"Details!" Lia insisted. My three roommates had become three new baby sisters for Rachel. _

_"We were flying over Spain and we had to dive out of the plane over Andorra La Vella," she started, "And we landed on the ground, and he just… got down on one knee."_

_"Oh my god," Kate had a dreamy look in her eyes, "If I weren't destined to be a spy, I'd love to be a wedding planner. I can't believe Rachel Cameron is getting married!"_

_"Congratulations," I finally found my words. It felt insincere. I didn't know _why_ I wasn't as excited about at as my friends. Maybe because it felt like 'Rachel is getting married… wow, we're really not kids anymore!', like our childhood and Gallagher years had gone too fast _and there was no way to get that time back_ and the world was real now. I didn't like to live in the real world._

I guess I still don't live in the real world.

"Hey, do you remember how Matt proposed to my sister, way back when?" I asked Kate. Kate's eyes went misty.

"Yeah," she said, "I do. Matt."

"We should go skydiving!" I grinned.

"Why?" She gave me a look.

"Celebration," I said simply, waltzing out of the room to contact somebody who owned a plane, "It'll be fun! I promise!" Four hours later, Kate and I were in a plane. Jonny hadn't come. Skydiving was our girls' celebration.

"And you'll be the maid of honor?" Kate shouted over the sound of the engines. I fearfully shook my head.

"Jana's much better at organizing!" I yelled back. "I'll be a bridesmaid, but maid of honor?" I grinned. "No offense, but you know me and responsibility!" I couldn't hear Kate's laugh, but I could see it there.

"3… 2…" We jumped on two, waving goodbye to the pilot as we sailed towards the earth.

I loved the rush. I couldn't hear anything other than wind rushing past my ears. I live for rushes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Props to you if you spot the song reference in this chapter! I only noticed it as I was editing but I was listening to that song on repeat as I wrote it, so I think little lyric chunks just leaked into this unintentionally.**

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><p>"Kate!" Jonny's yell terrified me. I kept firing at the hornet's nest of angry operatives.<p>

"Jonny, I could use some help!" I spun, firing a bullet at a very mad-looking bulldog of a man.

"Kate! Kate!" I turned to see my best friend bleeding all over the ground. Her lips were moving but I couldn't hear her.

"We have to get out of here, Jonny!" I shouted, shooting another bullet at another Circle operative.

"Kate, I'm so sorry!" Jonny knelt over her, refusing to budge.

"It's not your fault," I was close enough to hear her now. "You didn't know," she closed her eyes. _But we should have known!_

"Kate, stay with me! Stay with me!" He shook her shoulders. _Kate is dying!_

"We have to go, Jonathan!" I grabbed his shoulder and he roughly shoved me away. Typical me, I shoved him right back. Which was not what we needed, I knew, but I was scared.

"He ran away," Jonny said angrily, "The coward!" Jonny put his head in his hands. "That coward..."

"Jonny! She's losing blood!" I grabbed my best friend's hand. "We have to get her _somewhere_ fast!"

"Jonny," Kate whimpered.

"Everything's gonna be alright, Katie," he whispered to her.

"Jonny!" I shouted. He picked her up. She was so limp, so helpless… so _un-Kate_ when she was hurt. I couldn't help but feel like it was my fault.

_"I know where we need to go," I told Jonny, Kate, and a few of the other operatives confidently. "There's a building downtown that I tailed a suspected operative to. I estimate less than a dozen operatives when we break in."_

_"I think you three can handle it," Gary Wilson looked up from picking his fingernails, "Right?" I nodded._

_"I think we can." So Jonny, Kate, and I set out. _

_When we burst into the building, I had vastly underestimated the number of operatives within. I'd cornered us when I led us out into the street. _

_Katie was dying because I was reckless. I didn't do my research. _

The next thing I knew, we sat in the waiting room of a hospital.

"The bullet went into her lung," a doctor explained to the two of us. I gripped at my own bullet injury. It wasn't nearly of the same caliber as Kate's, "Which gave her a pneumothorax. We let the pressure off her heart and got the bullet out, but there's no telling…" the doctor cleared his throat. I ran my fingers through my hair. "But she's alive right now. You might want to just… I mean, don't lose hope, but… just in case, start telling her goodbye."

"This is all my fault," I said aloud to Jonny. Jonny didn't look at me, just stared straight ahead at the white wall of the hospital. "Jonny," he shook his head slowly, not looking at me.

"She's just…" I left him there to wander the halls of the hospital.

"Excuse me, miss," A nurse interrupted my guilty thoughts, "You can't be back here unless you're a patient or a doctor."

"I'm looking for a patient."

"These aren't visiting hours."

"I don't care," I told her snappily, storming past.

"I can call security," she threatened.

I threatened back, "I think my authority overrides theirs. Now, in which room is Katharine Norman?"

"I can't give you that information. Miss, if you could please-?"

"I'm not in the mood to hear I can't see her." I interrupted. "No, I'll find her myself if you won't help!" I pushed past the tiny nurse.

"Miss, wait!" She caught up with me. "Follow me." She led me through a maze of hallways until we reached a musty room that smelled more hospital-y than the rest of the hospital I had experienced. There was a small window and a very old TV, neither of which provided very much light.

Katie was fresh out of surgery, still under anesthesia. More of the doctor's words rang in my head.

_The loss of blood could have caused a stroke. We have no idea if she'll ever be the same. She could easily get a lung infection, since the bullet was doubtfully sterile. If that happens, it will be very hard to give her any help. She lost a lot of blood, she's very, incredibly lucky to be alive. _

He had told us all of those things. All I heard was, _It's all your fault, Abby. Abby, you and your careless ways got Kate shot. Abby, you should have planned better. I can't believe you were so reckless!_ The voice in my head adopted Rachel or Cammie's voice. I honestly couldn't tell which of them was reprimanding me, but I was sure it was one of them. _If Kate dies, it will be on your shoulders forever. She'll never live to get married to the man of her dreams. She'll never have kids, daughters to see graduate from the Gallagher Academy. She'll never be on another mission with you. Goldfish will be gone. Her parents will cry at her funeral._

My vision blurred but I didn't cry. I took Kate's hand. Her fingers were chilly from the over-air-conditioned room.

"Oh, Kate," I whispered, "I'm so sorry! This was all my fault!" My phone rang. It couldn't have been anything important; agents were way too smart to use phones (even if they were protected by the highest firewalls technology had come up with).

"Abigail Cameron," the accented voice said through the phone.

"Edward Townsend," I answered back bitterly, "What do you want?"

"Information," he said.

"Then why did you call me on my cell?" _That was stupid of you._

"Because I had no other method of getting in touch, and I know that your phone is protected from most line-tapping." I was quiet. He was quiet.

"So?"

"I know you were in a relationship with one Joseph Solomon," he told me.

"Was," I repeated, "And sort of."

"How do you reach Gallagher's sublevels?" He whispered. I froze.

"There's a mirror-"

"The sublevels have been blocked from the world by Joe Solomon himself. Do you have any idea how to break the codes?"

"Zero," I answered, shocked. "But the students are smarter than you'd think, if that's any help at all." He snorted like he didn't believe me one bit. He thought they were a bunch of idiots. "No, I'm serious! Ask Cammie or-"

"I admire your confidence in your niece," Townsend said with a condescending smirk that I could just _feel_ over the line, "I really do, but I was calling to get your expert advice. Your professional opinion."

"My professional opinion," I said icily, "is that you should stay out of the sublevels." The line on the other end went dead. My iPhone slipped out of my hand and onto the linoleum floor of the hospital. "Katie, what do I do?" I refused to let myself cry, but I held my friend's hand and listened to the hum of machines and thought of Joe and Rachel and Cammie and Lia and Viv.


	12. Chapter 12

Snow fell onto my face. I didn't mind the stinging cold or the icy mist being blown in from the harbor.

Boston.

For the city where Squirt's life was first threatened, I actually was enjoying Boston.

"I didn't want to be back here so soon," Lia told me, sipping Dunkin Donuts coffee and taking the seat on the bench next to me.

"Have you seen Vivian?" I asked. Lia shook her head.

"No," Lia shrugged, "Tanya doesn't really want me around, and I'm better at disappearing than showing up."

"I know what it's like," I sighed, "But it was crummy of me to stay out of Cammie and Rachel's lives when they needed me like they did."

"Rachel was your sister. It's different." Lia told me. "Tanya is my brother's ex-wife. She hates my guts and she thinks I'm a terrible influence on Viv."

"Don't be a ghost," I told her, thinking of Cammie. "You'll only regret it."

"I'm not here for your family advice," Lia snapped. "I'm here for Kate, okay? Not Viv and Tanya." I stayed quiet.

"Then why are you telling me about-"

"You brought it up!" Lia yelled, her thick Massachusetts accent coming back swinging. She slumped down. "I'm sorry, Abby, I shouldn't be taking this out on you, but… I'm so worried about Kate."

"_You're_ worried about Kate?" I scoffed. Lia looked at me incredulously.

"What do you mean, _I'm_ worried? Of course I'm worried!"

"She's not on _your_ conscience! It's not _your_ fault she's on the verge of… I don't know!" I didn't want to say that she was close to dying. Kate was stronger than death. Kate was a Gallagher girl. I felt my lip quivering again. Lia's eyes narrowed, part confused and part angry. "This is all my fault!"

"Abby, no it isn't! You had no way of knowing-"

"I was reckless, Lia. And stupid."

"You were doing what had to be done."

"Without being halfway prepared for what was on the other side of that door, Lia, don't argue with me, I know it's my fault." I thought for a second. "Want a list of the people I've screwed over in my lifetime because I was stupid?"

"I'm good thanks," Lia snipped, "You've got to stop feeling sorry for yourself. You're not the victim, that would be Kate."

"Thanks for pointing that out," I argued with an eye-roll.

"Fine, you were being careless! What's done is done, Abby, and you can't go back now. Maybe this should be a lesson to you to be more careful next time!"

"Thanks, _Rachel_, but since when has being careful ever been your gig?"

"You're impossible!" Lia threw her hands into the air in defeat. "I'm going to go check up on Kate. Do what you need to do, but I don't want to talk to you for a while, okay?"

"Where's Jana?"

"I don't know!" She yelled, turning and storming away. I would have snickered if I weren't so sad/angry/hurt, since the snowdrifts were a huge impediment to taking her seriously as she stormed off. Without an audience, I felt free to apologize to all the people I'd done wrong to in my life, starting with Joe and ending with Joe.

He said he wasn't working for them. He said he was on my side. He was also a friend to the man who had almost killed me.

How come I didn't know where I stood with him? How come I cared what happened to him? I knew he was bad. He was after Cammie.

Cammie.

I stood up, knowing all of a sudden what my place was in this huge mess. I had to protect my sister's daughter.

The icy air hacked away at my face. My nose was completely numb already. Boston was not the place for me. I couldn't sit around picking fights with my friends! My conscience was already squished enough without having any more… _incidents_. But before I had a chance to do anything, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Agent Cameron," I knew that voice. It was a voice that was going to send me halfway around the world right about now.

"Hello, sir," I tried out politeness. I felt rusty since I hadn't been all that polite to anybody recently. "What's going on?"

"We need you on a guard detail," he told me, "back here at Langley."

"Who will I be guarding?" He already sounded guilty.

"Suspected double agent Joseph Solomon." I held my breath. "We need you-"

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because you're the best we've got," he fibbed. I saw right through the lie. He didn't want me causing any more trouble! They were going to pen me up in HQ where I couldn't keep a watchful eye out for my niece.

"You don't want me causing trouble!"

"One of our friends at MI6," and by 'one of our friends' he meant 'Edward Townsend', "informed us of a little incident that happened in Zimbabwe last summer." I bit my lip. He had squealed on me because I didn't have any information involving the sublevels? Bastard. "We wanted to keep an eye on you."

"I promise you, sir, I'm not a double agent!"

"I'm not accusing you, Abigail," he said calmly, "but we want you back at HQ." Where I could stare my guilt in the face every day on guard duty.

"When do you need me?" I said somewhat-sulkily.

"We were thinking you could start your detail either tomorrow or Tuesday."

"I'll start tomorrow," I told him, "but I'm in Boston right now."

"No worries, Agent Cameron. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," I sighed, "talk to you later, sir."


	13. Chapter 13

**I realize I've had a sudden chapter-attack on both of my stories, but it's because I almost never write during normal school weeks but I'm on my thanksgiving break and obviously have more time to write/edit/post. I've missed it! Please review! Tell me if you like it!**

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><p>"Abby," Joe looked disheveled, "God, you look-" he cleared his throat before directing the conversation a different way, "What are you doing here?"<p>

"You don't look too hot yourself, dude," I snipped before continuing, "Guard duty," I sighed. "Interrogation."

"Haven't they already…?" A light seemed to dawn on him. "You're with them?"

"Don't you get accusatory! You're with the bad guys," I snapped, "You're with the guys who tried to kill me! And Cammie!"

"Abby, you have to believe me," he looked desperate, jumping up and placing his hands on my shoulders. There was no awkwardness in our proximity now. "You _have_ to believe I have Cammie's best interests in mind. I am _not_ working for the Circle!" He searched my face that I was careful to leave blank.

"Mr. Solomon," I breathed, shoving him away, "Please give me a little space." He backed up. I couldn't read the expression in his eyes any more than I hoped he could read mine. I wondered if he could sense the emotions tugging me in five different directions, even though my face was left as blank as the walls of the interrogation room.

"They brought you in," Joe said poisonously, "because they thought that our previous… _encounters_… would make me talk. And you agreed."

"I'm here, Joe," I told him, "because I was assigned to do so, and I don't want much more trouble." I paused. "And I don't like the word _encounters_."

"What would you call it then?" He asked with a cold expression.

_"Renegade!" The building above Joe and me collapsed. The two of us found ourselves trapped in the rubble._

_"Abby? Abby!" He yelled in the dark._

_"Joe, I'm here!" I winced. Something pinched. Claustrophobia was starting to take a hold of me. _

_"Renegade! Falcon!" Codenames rang in our ears. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I reached out in the dark for anyone- anything. My hand found another hand. _

Suddenly, my mind shot to Jonny and Kate in Chile."I'd call it a relationship," I informed him. He barked a short laugh. "What?"

"You're the stereotypical honeypot, Abby," he told me, "You weren't in it for me. You wanted to be the one to-"

"That's a lie!" I interrupted. "I thought you knew me better than that! No, I thought _I_ knew _you_, Joe." I wasn't used to being so raw, but something about Joe always made him see the worst unhidden parts of me. "I really, really did."

"I thought you knew me, too," Joe told me. "But apparently not, Abigail. If you knew me _at all_, you would understand that I'm not-"

"That's not what the man who shot me says!" I interjected without letting him finish. "You worked with the man who almost _killed me_, then took the liberty to… to…" I narrowed my eyes. "To _assume_ that this time would be like last time, and that you and I would just-"

"First off," Joe butted in, "I wanted nothing less than what happened last time between us. I thought maybe you'd have grown up a little bit since-"

"You say that like you don't think I have!"

"Because I _don't_ think you have," he responded calmly. "Even with the Florida incident."

"I thought you would let me grow up, Joe! I thought- and then you left before I even woke up!" I hadn't realized how much that fact had bothered me until I confessed it to Joe in the brightly-lit interrogation room at Langley. Why hadn't he stayed until I woke up? Why had he just left like it was nothing? We stood at a standstill, scanning each other's faces. "And you haven't answered any of the questions I've asked."

"Remind me again what you were asking?" He responded icily.

"I loved you," I admitted. "I did."

"You never had the decency to _tell_ me so when we were together." He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I know these interrogation tactics, Agent Cameron, I'm not an idiot-"

"It's not a goddamn interrogation tactic!" I slammed my fist down on the table. "It's the truth. I'm not particularly used to telling the truth, so-"

"Which is why I don't believe you're sincere!" Joe argued.

"I am." Why did I always have to cry in front of Joe? I think it's because fate has a particular dislike for me. "Now is it sincere enough for you?" I wiped away a tear. He seemed torn between wanting to tell me 'It's okay', and wanting to throw something at me in frustration. Or at least, I hoped he wanted to do both of those things.

"Will I ever know _you_, Abby?" He asked in a moment of startling honesty.

"I don't think either of us can ever really know the other," I admitted with equally dumbfounding honesty. "I mean, we're spies." It took all the courage I had to walk out of that interrogation room without slapping him in the face for all he's put me through. I like to think it was me finally growing up, but to be honest, that still hasn't happened. "Hey, can somebody else do this interrogation? Please?" I yelled up towards the wall of one-way glass where I knew at least three other people were stationed.

"You got us, let's see, nowhere." Jesse the lab tech informed me as soon as the door clicked shut behind me. "But do tell me, how was your couples therapy with Joey?"

"Shut up, Jesse," I picked up my pace, trying to lose the tech.

"I'm telling you, this is going to get in the way of-"

"I said _shut up,_ Jesse." His steps grew slower as he let me bound ahead of him. I knew this episode would most certainly earn me a meeting with one of my superiors, and also possibly some more arduous tasks. I certainly would not be allowed out on missions or anything.

Which brought my mind back to Kate in that hospital bed and my scream-fest with Lia. So I misbehaved, what good spy doesn't? The problem was that my emotions were starting to get the best of my common sense, and field work relied upon sound common sense. I knew it and my peers knew it and the people above me most definitely knew it.

"Agent Cameron-"

"I'm going home," I said determinedly. I didn't even turn to see who was talking.

"Agent, we need-"

"Not from me, you don't," I snapped. "Get somebody else to do it."

"But-"

The doors whooshed shut behind me and I breathed a sigh of partial relief. The rational side of me told me that they were just trying to keep me busy and distract me, but the temper tantrum part of me said that that interrogation was _totally_ on purpose. It wasn't _me_ finding anything out about _Joe_, it was so the bosses could find out things about_ me_. They were snooping around and wanted to know about my relationship with Joe! _Well, let them! There's nothing there anymore!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Once is nothing._

The balding man knocked me over with a muttered 'sorry' and continued on his way. He wore a nondescript business uniform and a pair of very shiny shoes. He hurried past me and disappeared into the throng of people.

_Twice is a coincidence._

I ducked into a parking garage in dire need of something to do. I hated not being on assignment. I made for the stairs that would let me into the mall. I heard slow footsteps coming down the stairs after me. I caught a glimpse of a shiny shoe a flight above my head.

_Three times is a tail._

I made my way through the aisles of Smith's. I was all out of orange juice at home. It was bitterly cold out and I pulled my sweater closer around myself. As I searched for the juice, I happened to glance down the ice cream aisle, contemplating cuddling up with some Rocky Road, when, lo and behold, a balding man with shiny shoes stood there, examining the Hagen Daaz with far more intensity than necessary.

The realization hit me all of a sudden: my bosses were tailing me! They didn't trust me!

Millions of indignant questions ran through my brain. Did they think I was in cahoots with Solomon? That I was in the Circle? They had locked up Rachel. Were they planning to do the same with me? How many phonecalls of mine had they intercepted?

Those bastards.

I was torn between confronting the tail, toying with him, or directly talking to my bosses. Nowhere in me was the option 'forget it'.

My phone began to ring. The balding agent looked up at me. I shot him a glance and he hurried to the next aisle, brushing past me with a "Scuse me, ma'am." My rage grew at least threefold at this tail. Had he just called me _ma'am_? Seriously? I didn't look _that_ old!

"Hello?"

"Abigail Cameron."

"That's me. Who is this?"

"Agent Cameron, we would like to talk with you."

"Okay," I glanced around out of habitual paranoia. "When and where, then?"

"Rocky Road." He answered. I was momentarily confused. I stuffed my cell back into my pocket before darting down the ice cream aisle to check for the dead letter drop box. Just like he had explained, there was a note taped to the bottom of one of the cartons of Rocky Road. I pretended to check the ingredients while I slipped the note into my pocket with my phone.

Once in my car, I felt safe to check the address. It provided a time to meet them later today. I had one hour to get to a neighborhood party and meet up with someone named Kristopher.

It didn't take long to show up in the wealthy neighborhood. A tent was set up in a grassy park. I stepped out of my car.

"There she is!" A strange man waved to me. "Hi, babe!" I went along with it, offering up my widest grin.

"Hey, Kris." I knew this was the Kristopher I was supposed to meet.

"Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend," Kristopher wrapped a hand around my waist and I leaned into his shoulder. "Nadia, this is my mom and my dad."

"Nice to meet you both!" I shook their hands.

"We've heard amazing things about you, dear," Kristopher's mom told me, "My son never stops talking about you."

"Aw, sweetie!" I nudged the stranger Kristopher, who smiled goofily and blushes.

"Yeah, well," he shrugs and starts to move his arm from my side when I lean in to kiss him on the cheek. "Hey, Nadia," he took my hand, "Would you like to go get some food? The hamburger's they're serving are delicious!"

_I grabbed Joe and kissed him. For 87 seconds. _

_"Well," I giggled and glanced at my sister and niece, "somebody had to do it!" _

"Yeah, that'd be nice." The two of us walked off.

"You're a good actress, Agent." He whispered to me.

"I might have to return the compliment." I murmured back. "Nice with the embarrassed thing."

"Well, good job with the kissing." A smirk spread across my face and I stood on my tiptoes and pecked him on the lips, catching him by surprise.

"I've had practice." I answer simply. His cheeks go red and he continues walking me over to the barbeque. People wave at the two of us and I smile and wave back.

_"You're good." Joe smiled breathlessly, holding a gun in one hand and my wrist in the other._

_"I think so, too," I leaned up onto my tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. He snickered at me with raised eyebrows. "But thank you, sir."_

_"Not very professional, though, are you, Agent Cameron?"_

_"Since when was 'professional' in the job description?" I shifted my weight to one leg and put my hands on my hips._

_"Well, I guess it's not," He stepped closer, "but I pride myself on being professional." I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to my (unfortunately short) height for another kiss._

"Look, Tom!" A teenage girl nudges younger boy, "That's Kris's girlfriend." I heard an incessant beeping sound, but it was quiet and dull. Kris frowned. "Come with me, please." He tightened his grip on my hand and picked up the pace, walking me uphill and to a church, which sat across the street from said suburban park. Once behind the church, Kris stopped walking.

"Agent Abigail Cameron?" He asked. That was unnerving. I didn't even know this kid's last name. "Kristopher Evanston, MI6." He slipped out of his American imitation and into a more natural London accent. _Evanston. That's his last name. Evanston._

"Where did the 'Nadia' thing come from?" I asked. "Just curious." He bent down to tie his shoe and looked up at me.

"That's my girlfriend's name. Those are my parents. Honestly." He stood up. "But they won't remember your face at all, especially not with memory-modifying tea. When they actually get to meet her, they won't remember meeting you at all."

"That's clever." I thought it over. "So what was it you desperately needed me for?"

"I was supposed to give you a warning. You _mustn't_ do anything foolish. We know about your prior relationships with the CIA prisoner Joe Solomon. Consider this an order from MI6." I felt my face blanch. And here I was hoping for a new assignment in order to forget about this stuff, and all I get is a reminder from yet another source.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry about the short chapter, longer one to come next! I promise! :) Enjoy!**

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><p>Joe had escaped, so I heard. Kate was no longer comatose, so they'd told me. Lia was still furious at me, I'd learned on my own, and I had all but shut myself off from everyone else.<p>

Which is why it was so surprising when I heard a knock on my door. I moaned and dragged myself out of bed. I glimpsed myself in the mirror as I made my way out of my room. My hair was a mass of bedhead and my makeup was smudged from crying then sleep. Why I'd been crying last night I couldn't quite recall, but I was sure the effects of the red wine had helped considerably.

"Abby, I'm coming in," the voice on the other side of the door said. _I should know that voice_, I thought meekly to myself as I curled up on my couch and waited for whomever it was to barge in. I heard the tumblers click into place and the door swing open. "Get up!" My eyes moved lazily across the room to the figure in the doorway.

"Rachel?" I rubbed my eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Get up," she demanded again. When I didn't show any intention of moving, she plopped herself down on the couch next to me and went into big-sister mode. "Alright, what's wrong?"

"Everything," I whimpered, "_Everything _is wrong." Rachel gave me a withering look and I sniffed.

"You think everything's gone right in _my_ life?" She raised an eyebrow. "Really, of all the people to cry to-"

"I didn't ask you to come over," I argued, feeling like a foolish child. Rachel always made me feel that way, it seemed, no matter how old we got.

"You're right," Rachel sighed. "You get three minutes to divulge the details of your newfound depression before I tell you why I came." I shook my head.

"There's nothing to tell," I sniveled, trying to regain hold of my emotions. Rachel pursed her lips and wrapped me in a hug. So instead of telling her anything, Rachel let me cry for three minutes before she sat me up and looked me in the eye.

"Your three minutes are up, Abby," she smiled. "Joe's innocent."

"What?" I bristled. "I cannot _believe_ you would come here and bring _him_ up!" Had I had the energy, I would have jumped from the couch.

"No, listen!" Rachel grabbed my hand for an instant so I wouldn't stand up. "Hear me out, Abby. Joe's little… I don't know, the kid from Blackthorne he was close to came to the school this morning. He's in my office and I'll be keeping him there all day, but he told me a lot. The Circle didn't break Joe out to rescue him. They broke him out because they're scared of him. He knows more about them than anybody has in close to two hundred years, and they want to know what he's told to people." It made sense, but I couldn't possibly believe her. Not after all I'd put myself through to believe Joe was the wrong one. When I remained silent, Rachel sighed and patted my knee, standing up and examining my humble abode.

"You're scrutinizing," I stated.

"You've got to clean this place up," she sighed. "I'm going to go to keep that Zach kid from getting in any trouble. I don't trust him any further than I could… well, I could probably throw him pretty far, never mind. I don't trust him at all." I didn't smile. "See you, Abby."

"Bye, Rachel."

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><p>I pulled myself together eventually. I knew I had to go help as soon as I got Rachel's phonecall that they were going to infiltrate Blackthorne. I showered and changed my clothes, brushed my hair and teeth… normal everyday things that took more effort than they should have. Then I hopped into my car and off I went to the rendezvous site. Along the way, I talked to myself and sang along with the radio in an attempt to appear normal to my niece. I knew I looked disheveled and… well, awful, but that didn't mean I couldn't lull her into a false sense of security by acting like normal Aunt Abby.<p>

There was the car. I pulled over at the side of the road and walked towards the group.

"Abby?" Macey cried. Cammie looked my direction and momentary shock appeared in her eyes.

"Hey, Squirt," I faked a smile, "Playing hooky, I see."

"Maybe this is a CoveOps field exercise?" I raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"I know Agent Townsend, Cams."

"Oh," Bex said.

"Which is why," I clarified, "I am more than willing to take part in this little extracurricular assignment." I looked up at Rachel. "Well, one of the reasons." Rachel almost smiled at me, but didn't. I could tell, though, that she was proud I had managed to show up.

"What are our friends at six saying, Abe?" she turned to Bex's dad.

"Same story, different accent." He replied. "No one has a bloody clue where they've taken him. No one seems to bloody care."

"I care." Zach interrupted.

"Hello, Zachary," Grace smiled widely, "It's very nice to meet you. Rachel has told us…" she stopped short. "It's very nice to meet you." Zach mumbled something inaudible and looked at his feet. Grace turned to Rachel. "Ready?"

Cammie looked slightly disoriented by this all. I returned to my SUV and watched Rachel and Cammie talk. I drove off after Grace and Abe as their car pulled away, knowing that I would finally be able to do some good. Keep Cammie safe and maybe rescue Joe from the Circle.

I patrolled the highway around the entrance to Blackthorne wishing I could be going in, but there was no reason to go in. Four teenage girls sneaking into a boys' school for a midnight meetup? Likely. Adults sneaking into a boys' school? Creepy and far less excusable.

I couldn't help but think about time. Here the Squirt was, on her first real mission, and all I could think about was my own first mission, Squirt as a baby, Matt, Joe…

God, how time flies. In an instant, it was Rachel's turn to drive up to the Blackthorne institute herself. A feeling of dread spread through my limbs as a distant thud met my ears. I parked the car on the side of the road and watched smoke rise into the clear sky. Even if it had been Rachel's intention, I couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone wrong. I pulled out the comms unit sitting on the dashboard and listened closely, wondering if Rachel even had hers.

"Hello?" I whispered. I didn't have the energy to demand an answer, so I waited for a response and watch the smoke rise into the sky.


	16. Chapter 16

**Don't forget to tell me what you think! The story's sort of drawing to a close here (probably another chapter or two and it's done), and I want to know you all liked it! 3**

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><p>"You were right, you know," Agent Townsend approached me. I was seated outside the infirmary waiting to hear about my niece and Joe.<p>

"About what?" I spat. Cammie wouldn't be… Joe wouldn't be… God, if only I had gone in! But what would I have done? Whether or not it would have been foolhardy, my conscience wouldn't stop nagging me about my failure to help when I first saw the smoke.

"Your niece is smarter than I thought," he admitted. "She's got a natural talent."

"I know," I stood up. "How is he?" I asked urgently.

"He?" Agent Townsend's eyes flashed for an instant. "I don't know how to answer that question. I guess you can go look for yourself. I've got a plane to catch."

"Well," I pursed my lips, "Go on, then." I approached the room but stopped at the door.

"Dad's alive," I heard Cammie say. The sound of nervous shuffling stopped. "He's alive, Mom. He's alive. She… Zach's mother said so!" There was silence for a moment before I heard Rachel's voice.

"Listen to me, Cammie. Listen. They will say anything, they will _do_ anything, to get what they want. And what they want right now is you."

"Why?" Cammie asked. "They came to Blackthorne because Mr. Solomon told them Dad's journal was there. They'd go anywhere to find me. What do they want?"

"We don't know, kiddo. I think your father was probably getting close to something. I think that's why they killed him."

"She said he's alive!" I could hardly stand to listen to this argument. Rachel was right; Matt was dead.

"Don't let yourself be fooled, Cammie!" Rachel snapped. "Don't let yourself…" I walked away before I could hear Rachel say something that would make somebody like me indignant. I knew this type of conversation too well. I would come back and see Joe later, when Cammie and Rachel weren't sharing a room with him. I heard footsteps somewhere down the hallway and turned to see Rachel wheeling Cammie out of Joe's room. I stopped for a moment, but couldn't resist returning to that room to see Joe.

He looked awful. He was head-to-toe bandages and burns. Had I not known it was really him, I might not have recognized him.

"Man," I whispered to him, "You look rough, Solomon." The sheets had been hastily smoothed over his chest. Looking at him in that hospital bed, hooked up to all those machines, all I could think of were all the times we had kissed and fought. I thought of Florida and Boston and Langley and all the times I should have just been honest and all the times I was too honest. As nurses and doctors buzzed around the room like irritating flies, I took the seat next to his bed and said what had been on my mind since Rachel had come to my apartment just two days ago. "I was wrong, Joe, and I'm sorry. And… I loved you. And if you wake up, maybe I can love you again." Tears welled up in my eyes and I grabbed his hand. "Please, _please_ wake up. I can't lose you, too." I thought of the friends I had abandoned in order to hole myself up in self-pity.

"Now, who else is it you were referencing with that 'too'?" A voice piped up across the room. My head whipped up and I saw Jana and Lia smiling at me.

"You came!" I dropped Joe's hand and stood up.

"We heard what happened," Jana told me, "but the message got mixed up along the way. We thought you were in the infirmary, too."

"Speaking of the infirm," I looked up at the two of them, "How's Kate?"

"You can ask her yourself. Jonny's having a little trouble getting her here with the wheelchair and all, but that's his job now. You know, 'in sickness and in health'?" Lia shrugged. "Not that they're married yet. Impossible, with her injuries. Plus, I doubt she'd even hear of it without you there, and you haven't returned a call or an e-mail in about two months."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I blushed. "I've just been…"

"We were worried about you," Jana confessed.

"Why?" I snorted. "I was terrible to you guys!"

"Oh, come on, Abby!" Lia rolled her eyes. "That was _nothing_!"

"Yeah, we weren't angry," Jana shook her head. She looked at Joe and a sad glow crossed her face. "How is he?"

"I don't know," I sighed, taking his hand in my own again.

"Come with us," Lia forcibly traded Joe's hand in mine with her own. "You need a distraction, hon."


	17. Chapter 17

**Last chapter guys! Don't forget to review!**

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><p>The spring air was soft in the air as I walked up to the doors of Gallagher. School for the girls would be drawing to a close soon.<p>

I made my way along the newly familiar route to the infirmary, flowers in my hand. I set them up in a vase in the corner of his room. He was stable these days, but still comatose. I had taken to talking to him when I visited, despite his lack of consciousness.

"You know," I told him as I fixed up the sheets on his bed, "it would be nice if you'd wake up so I could have a real conversation one of these days… without looking like a crazy person." I pulled the blinds open and let light flood into the room. "They still think I'm up to no good, by the way. I'm on a new guard detail." I paused, taking the seat next to his bed. "I'm supposed to guard Cammie. I mean, it's better this time since Lia and Jana are on the detail with me, but still." I took his hand. "Cammie doesn't know, which is good. She'd be really mad at me about it. If I were in Cammie's shoes, I'd be mad at me, too. Anyway, in other news, Kate's wedding is in December." I paused again. "I'd really love it if you'd wake up before then, because I don't want to be the awkward one without a date. I mean, if you'd come with me…" I sighed and looked up. Standing in the doorway with a self-satisfied smirk on her face was my sister. "What?"

"Nothing," she rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Aren't you supposed to be guarding my daughter?"

"She can take care of herself for a little bit. She's a big girl now," I excused myself with an eye roll.

"I'm taking your post, alright?" Rachel sat down in my chair, forcing me out of it.

"You look like you need sleep, Rach," I warned. She closed her eyes and murmured something. She took Joe's hand out of mine and I narrowed my eyes. "Alright, well then…" I shuffled out of the room. "I guess I'll go check up on the Squirt."

I was bothered but not worried when I couldn't find her anywhere. I couldn't find Zachary either, but I managed to catch up with Macey, Bex, and Liz. They said they had woken up and she was missing. They seemed vaguely surprised to see me.

"Don't mention to Cammie that you saw me, alright?" Bex nodded, suddenly understanding.

"We won't."

I was strangely unworried about it. Cammie had proven that she could take good care of herself. She reappeared by mid-afternoon, looking pensive but otherwise unharmed. I, of course, stayed out of her way (she had no idea I was here) and joined Lia and Jana in the caves behind Mr. Fibs' filing cabinets.

"Nice of you to join us," Lia grinned. "I've been skyping Viv."

"You've been _skyping_?" I gawked. Could she be less covert?

"Because people are certainly after my eleven-year-old niece," Lia smirked. She returned to her laptop and added, "Plus, the firewalls on my computer are virtually uncrackable."

"First of all," I told her, "uncrackable isn't a term. Secondly, I wouldn't have thought there were people after my sixteen-year-old niece, but apparently they are." Lia pouted.

"Viv," she told her computer, "I can't wait to give you a tour of the place this summer! It'll be great!"

"I'm excited," Viv responded.

_"This place," I gushed, "is _amazing_! Rachel, you actually go to school here?"_

_"So do you now," Rachel smirked. "Cool, huh?" _

_"What's that?" I pointed at Gillian's sword. Rachel just shook her head and said:_

_"Off limits." In my eleven-year-old mind, that was a challenge. And so began my career of wreaking havoc at Gallagher. _

"I'll bet she is," I muttered with a smile. Jana gave me a knowing look while Lia chattered away to her niece.

"I'll show you all the best passageways, peanut," Lia told her, "You're going to love it!"

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><p><em>And now... well... now I am going to sneak out of this mansion by myself one more time. Now I'm going to leave here, and spend this summer trying to find them. I'll be back. And when I am, I promise I'll have answers.<em>

"Dammit, Cammie!" I threw the spiral-bound notebook on the ground.

"What is it, Abby?" Rachel stood worriedly off a ways.

"Cammie's run off!" I snarled, picking up the notebook and shoving it at her chest. Rachel took it and skimmed over the page, eyebrows furrowing. I was already storming towards the doors, determined to find my niece when-

"Abby, stop," Rachel's voice was quiet and controlled.

"We've got to find her!" I shouted desperately. "She's being so... so... _stupid!_" I took a deep breath.

"Let her go," Rachel told me. "What would you do-?"

"Oh, don't start that!" I stared at the front doors. "What would I do if I were her? Well I certainly wouldn't... I would _not_..." I thought it over. "Dammit, Squirt!"

"Cammie's a big girl now," Rachel turned my own words against me. "Let her do what she needs to do. She promised she'd be back. I'm confident that she will." Rachel put her hands on my shoulders. I narrowed my eyes and glared at her mutinously, but I knew she was right. And it's not like I wouldn't have done exactly the same if I were in Cammie's place. But, _god_, it was just so stupid!

"Dammit, Cammie..."

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><p><strong>Hope you guys liked my little story! :) Don't forget to review! Love you all! 3<strong>


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